Electrode member, electrode assembly and secondary battery

ABSTRACT

The present application relates to an electrode member, an electrode assembly and a secondary battery. The electrode member comprises an electrode body and a conductive structure that has a first portion having an active material and a second portion extending from the first portion. The second portion comprises a main portion and a transition portion provided between the main portion and the first portion, and a width of the transition portion larger than a width of the main portion. The conductive structure is welded with the second portion and extends along a direction away from the first portion. At least a part of a welding region formed by the second portion and the conductive structure is positioned at the transition portion, thereby avoiding the overcurrent area being significantly reduced by the main portion and ensuring that every position electric current passes through have a sufficient overcurrent area.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/732,180, filed on Dec. 31, 2019 which is acontinuation application of PCT/CN2018/118142, filed on Nov. 29, 2018,which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201821242185.7,filed with the National Intellectual Property Administration of thePeople's Republic of China on Aug. 2, 2018, all of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of energy storage device,and particularly relates to an electrode member, an electrode assemblyand a secondary battery.

BACKGROUND

With the advantages of high energy density, friendly environment and thelike, secondary batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries, have beenwidely applied to electronic devices, for example, mobile phones,laptops and the like. In recent years, in order to deal withenvironmental issues, petrol price issues and energy storage issues,application of the lithium-ion batteries has been rapidly expanded topetrol-electric hybrid electric vehicles, energy storage systems and thelike.

With the development of the secondary battery, a new type of structurehas been introduced to the main components of an electrode member in thesecondary battery, that is, the electrode member comprises an electrodebody, the electrode body is formed by stacking an insulating substrateand a conducting layer provided on an outer side of the insulatingsubstrate. Specifically, the conducting layer comprises a first portioncoated with an active material and a second portion extending from thefirst portion; a plurality of second portions are connected with acurrent collecting member.

SUMMARY

An electrode member in accordance with some embodiments comprises anelectrode body and a conductive structure. The electrode body is alaminated structure and comprises an insulating substrate and aconducting layer provided on a surface of the insulating substrate. Theconducting layer comprises a first portion having an active material anda second portion extending from the first portion; the second portioncomprises a main portion and a transition portion, the transitionportion is provided between the main portion and the first portion, anda width of the transition portion is larger than a width of the mainportion. The conductive structure is welded with the second portion andextends along a direction away from the first portion, and at least apart of a welding region formed by the second portion and the conductivestructure is positioned at the transition portion.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary only and are notrestrictive of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a structural schematic view of a specific embodiment of asecondary battery provided by the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a structural schematic view of a specific embodiment of anelectrode member provided by the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of a specific embodiment of theelectrode member provided by the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is schematic view of a specific embodiment of an electrode bodyof the electrode member provided by the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view illustrating a portion “I” of FIG.2.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a specific embodiment of the electrodemember provided by the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged view illustrating a portion “II” of FIG.6.

REFERENCE NUMERALS IN FIGURES

-   -   1 case;    -   2 cap plate;    -   3 positive electrode terminal;    -   4 negative electrode terminal;    -   5 electrode assembly;        -   51 electrode body;            -   511 active material;            -   512 insulating substrate;            -   513 conducting layer;                -   5131 first portion;                -   5132 second portion;                -    51321 main portion;                -    51322 transition portion;        -   52 conductive structure;        -   53 welding region;            -   531 first welding region;            -   532 second welding region;        -   54 insulating layer.

The accompanying figures herein are incorporated into and constitute apart of the description, which show embodiments in conformity with thepresent disclosure and are used to explain the present disclosuretogether with the description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter the present disclosure will be further described in detailby means of specific embodiments and in combination with theaccompanying figures.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understoodthat, the orientation or positional relations indicated by orientationterms, such as “front”, “rear”, “up”, “down”, “left”, “right”,“transverse”, “vertical”, “perpendicular”, “horizontal”, “top” and“bottom”, are usually based on the orientation or positional relationsillustrated by the figures, and are only for facilitating description ofthe present disclosure and simplifying the description. Unless otherwisespecified, such orientation terms do not indicate or imply that thedevice or element has to present a particular orientation or to beconstructed and operated in a particular orientation, so that theseorientation terms cannot be considered as limitation on the protectionscope of the present disclosure. The orientation terms “inside” and“outside” mean the interior and exterior relative to the contour ofvarious members themselves.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understoodthat, words such as “first”, “second” and the like which are used todefine the parts, are only intended to distinguish the correspondingparts. Unless otherwise specified, the aforementioned words do not haveparticular meanings, and thus cannot be understood as limitation on theprotection scope of the present disclosure.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, a length direction of a secondarybattery is defined as a length direction X, a thickness direction of thesecondary battery is defined as a thickness direction Y, a heightdirection of the secondary battery is defined as a height direction Z.

As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 7, an embodiment of the present disclosureprovides a secondary battery, which comprises a case 1, a cap plate 2, apositive electrode terminal 3, a negative electrode terminal 4 and anelectrode assembly 5. The case 1 has an accommodating cavity; the capplate 2 covers the case 1 to seal the accommodating cavity. The positiveelectrode terminal 3 and the negative electrode terminal 4 are providedto the cap plate 2. The electrode assembly 5 is provided inside the case1.

The electrode assembly 5 comprises a positive electrode member, anegative electrode member and a separator which are stacked, theseparator is provided between the positive electrode member and thenegative electrode member, and the electrode assembly 5 can be formed bylaminating or winding the positive electrode member, the negativeelectrode member and separator. When the electrode assembly 5 isaccommodated in the case 1, the positive electrode member is connectedwith the positive electrode terminal 3, the negative electrode member isconnected with the negative electrode terminal 4; the positive electrodemember and the positive electrode terminal 3 can be connected by acurrent collecting member, the negative electrode member and thenegative electrode terminal 4 can be connected by another currentcollecting member, so the electrode assembly and a component outside thesecondary battery can be electrically connected via the positiveelectrode terminal 3 and the negative electrode terminal 4. The positiveelectrode member and the negative electrode member generally are platestructures, so the positive electrode member and the negative electrodemembers are respectively generally named as positive electrode plate andnegative electrode plate.

Referring to FIG. 3, at least one of the abovementioned positiveelectrode member and the abovementioned negative electrode member is anelectrode member of any one of embodiments described later; in otherwords, only one of the positive electrode member and the negativeelectrode member is the electrode member described later, or each of thepositive electrode member and the negative electrode member is theelectrode member described later.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the electrode member comprises anelectrode body 51, the electrode body 51 is a laminated structure, andthe electrode body 51 comprises an insulating substrate 512 and aconducting layer 513 provided on a surface of the insulating substrate512. It can provide the conducting layer 513 at one side of theinsulating substrate 512, or it also can provide the conducting layer513 at both sides of the insulating substrate 512; FIG. 3 is astructural schematic view shown an embodiment providing the conductinglayer 513 at both sides of the insulating substrate 512. The conductinglayer 513 comprises a first portion 5131 and a second portion 5132, thefirst portion 5131 is provided with an active material 511, the secondportion 5132 extends from the first portion 5131, and the second portion5132 is not provided with the active material 511. The second portion5132 comprises a main portion 51321 and a transition portion 51322, thetransition portion 51322 is provided between the main portion 51321 andthe first portion 5131, and a width of the transition portion 51322 islarger than a width of the main portion 51321. The abovementioned widthsrefer to dimensions in the abovementioned length direction X.

In the abovementioned electrode member, the width of the transitionportion 51322 is larger than the width of the main portion 51321 in theconducting layer 513, to increase the connecting area between the firstportion 5131 and the second portion 5132, thereby increasing theconnecting strength between the first portion 5131 and the secondportion 5132, and improving the reliability of the secondary battery.When the electrode member is formed by stacking the insulating substrate512 and the conducting layer 513, a thickness (that is a dimension inthe abovementioned thickness direction Y) of the conducting layer 513 isvery small, so when the conducting layer 513 is connected with othermember, the connecting position between the first portion 5131 and thesecond portion 5132 is especially easy to fracture. By using theelectrode member of the present disclosure, it can increase a dimensionof the connecting position between the first portion 5131 and the secondportion 5132, and in turn improve the conducting layer 513's resistanceto fracture at the connecting position. When the electrode member havingsuch a stacked structure is applied to a secondary battery, because thethickness of the conducting layer 513 is smaller, the overcurrent areaat the connecting position between the first portion 5131 and the secondportion 5132 is very small, which may lead to heat being generatedseriously at the connecting position and seriously reduce theperformance of the secondary battery; by increasing the width of thetransition portion 51322, it can enlarge the overcurrent area of theconducting layer 513 at the connecting position between the firstportion 5131 and the second portion 5132, and in turn relieve heatgenerated at the connecting position in the process of using thesecondary battery, and improve the performance of the secondary battery.

After the electrode assembly 5 is formed by electrode members, thesecond portions 5132 are connected. When two adjacent second portions5132 are connected, the two adjacent second portions 5132 will beaffected by the insulating substrate 512 between the two adjacent secondportions 5132, and increase difficulty of electrical connection betweenthe second portions 5132. For this reason, the electrode member of thepresent disclosure further comprises a conductive structure 52, theconductive structure 52 is connected with the second portion 5132 of theconducting layer 513 and extends along a direction away from the firstportion 5131; at a side providing the electrode terminal in theabovementioned height direction Z, the conductive structure 52 extendsbeyond the second portion 5132. In this way, by providing the conductivestructure 52, each electrode member can be directly connected via theconductive structure 52 when forming the electrode assembly 5; there isno insulating substrate 512 between two adjacent conductive structures52, so each electrode member is easy to be electrically connected.

After the positive electrode member, the negative electrode member andseparator are wound or laminated to form the electrode assembly 5, thesecond portions 5132 of the electrode assembly 5 are stacked; the secondportions 5132 of the positive electrode member are stacked and connectedwith the conductive structures 52 of the positive electrode member toform a positive electrode tab; the second portions 5132 of the negativeelectrode member are stacked and connected with the conductivestructures 52 of the negative electrode member to form a negativeelectrode tab. The positive electrode member is connected with thepositive electrode terminal 3 via the positive electrode tab; thenegative electrode member is connected with the negative electrodeterminal 4 via the negative electrode tab.

Optionally, the conductive structure 52 is connected with the conductinglayer 513 by welding; specifically, in some embodiments, the welding isultrasonic welding, such as rolling welding or transfer welding. In anembodiment, a welding region 53 formed by the conductive structure 52and the conducting layer 513 is completely positioned at the mainportion 51321. However, after this electrode structure is applied to thesecondary battery, the electric current of the electrode assembly 5 canbe conducted to the conductive structure 52 after flowing through thetransition portion 51322 and the main portion 51321 sequentially; thewidth of the main portion 51321 is smaller than the width of thetransition portion 51322, and the overall thickness of the conductinglayer 513 is very small relative to the conductive structure 52, so anovercurrent area at the main portion 51321 is significantly reducedcompared to an overcurrent area of other region, and a resistance of aconstituent region of the main portion 51321 will be increased, whichleads to the constituent region generating heat seriously.

The present disclosure provides an embodiment, wherein at least a partof the welding region 53 formed by the conductive structure 52 and theconducting layer 513 is positioned at the transition portion 51322; inother words, the conductive structure 52 extends to the transitionportion 51322 at a side close to the first portion 5131, and theconductive structure 52 at least is connected with the conducting layer513 at the transition portion 51322. In this way, when the electrodemember is assembled to form the secondary battery, the electric currentof the electrode assembly 5 sequentially flows through the transitionportion 51322, the welding region 53 and the conductive structure 52,and does not need to flow through the main portion 51321, so it canavoid the overcurrent area being significantly reduced caused by themain portion 51321, and ensure that every position the electric currentpassing through has a sufficient overcurrent area, and in turn improvethe safety of the secondary battery. In the present disclosure, thewelding region 53 formed by the conductive structure 52 and theconducting layer 513 is provided at the transition portion 51322,because the width of the transition portion 51322 is larger than thewidth of the main portion 51321, compared to one way of only providingthe welding region 53 at the main portion 51321, this way cansignificantly increase the connecting area between the second portion5132 and the conductive structure 52, and improve the strength of theconducting layer 513 at the second portion 5132, thus when the electrodeassembly 5 is formed by winding the electrode members or stacking theelectrode members, it can reduce the flex of the second portion 5132,and improve the quality of the electrode assembly 5.

Understandably, in some embodiments, in a projection along theabovementioned thickness direction Y, a width of the second portion 5132is changed continuously and smoothly along the abovementioned heightdirection Z; for example, the second portion 5132 is a triangularstructure, a trapezoidal structure, a stepped structure or the like. Inan embodiment, the second portion 5132 is a stepped structure; as shownin FIG. 4, the second portion 5132 has a large end and a small endconnected with each other, an area of a cross section of the large endis larger than an area of a cross section of the small end, the crosssection is a section perpendicular to the height direction Z. A steppedsurface is formed at a side of the large end close to the small end, atthis time, the main portion 51321 is provided to the small end of thestepped structure, the transition portion 51322 is provided to the largeend of the stepped structure, the stepped surface is away from the firstportion 5131; by using this structure, on the premise that a height (adimension along the abovementioned height direction Z) of the secondportion 5132 is constant, it can make the width of the transitionportion 51322 larger, and in turn better increase the connectingreliability between the second portion 5132 and the first portion 5131.In this way, the main portion 51321 is provided to the small end, whichcan increase the width of the transition portion 51322 and make thewidth of the main portion 51321 smaller, thereby avoiding the secondportion 5132 affecting the function of the other member when the secondportion 5132 is connected with the other member. For example, after thesecond portion 5132 forms the electrode tab, the electrode tab can beconnected to the electrode terminal via a current collecting member; inorder to improve the safety of the secondary battery, the currentcollecting member is provided with a fuse hole in some embodiments; whenthe electric current in a circuit formed between the electrode terminaland the electrode assembly 5 is too high, the current collecting membercan be fused rapidly at the fuse hole. At this time, if the width of themain portion 51321 is too large, it may cover the fuse hole, therebyaffecting the reliability of the fuse hole, even leading to the failureof the fuse hole, and reducing the safety of the secondary battery. Byusing the abovementioned stepped structure, it can increase a differencebetween the cross section of the main portion 51321 and the crosssection of the transition portion 51322, and in turn avoid theabovementioned problem.

In an embodiment, the second portion 5132 is connected with the firstportion 5131 via a rounded corner; obviously, such a stepped structurecan better increase the overcurrent area of the second portion 5132.

It should be noted, in some embodiments, the abovementioned large endand the abovementioned small end each are a rectangle structure, atriangular structure, a trapezoidal structure or combination thereof.

Further, at least at one side of the second portion 5132 in theabovementioned length direction X, the transition portion 51322 and themain portion 51321 is connected via a rounded corner. The transitionportion 51322 and the main portion 51321 can be connected via roundedcorners at two sides of the second portion 5132 in the abovementionedlength direction X, or be connected only via one rounded corner at oneside of the second portion 5132 in the abovementioned length directionX. By configuring the second portion 5132 in the abovementioned way, itcan prevent stress concentration after forming the second portion 5132,and improve the reliability of the second portion 5132.

In order to facilitate the structure configuration of the electrodeassembly 5 and the arrangement of the electrode assembly 5 in the innerspace of the secondary battery, the electrode tab formed by the secondportion 5132 and the conductive structure 52 is symmetrical with respectto a central surface. The central surface is a plane of the secondportion 5132 parallel to the height direction Z and the thicknessdirection Y.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the abovementioned weldingregion 53 is further positioned at the main portion 51321, that is, theconductive structure 52 is welded with the conducting layer 513 at themain portion 51321 and the transition portion 51322. Specifically, asshown in FIG. 5, the welding region 53 comprises a first welding region531 and a second welding region 532, the first welding region 531 ispositioned at the main portion 51321, the second welding region 532 ispositioned at the transition portion 51322, so it not only can ensure awelding area between the conductive structure 52 and the second portion5132, but also can decrease a height (that is a dimension in theabovementioned height direction Z) of the transition portion 51322, andin turn reduce the space of the secondary battery occupied by theelectrode assembly 5. By decreasing the height of the transition portion51322, it also can reduce creases when bending the electrode tab, andimprove the energy density of the secondary battery. At the same time,it can decrease the overall height of the second welding region 532 inthis way, so it also can prevent a short circuit caused by the separatorpierced by the welding region. Especially, when the positive electrodemember uses this electrode member, because a length of the negativeelectrode member is generally larger than a length of the positiveelectrode member, if the welding region pierces the separator andcontacts the negative electrode member, it will lead to short circuit;by using the welding region 53 provided at the main portion 51321 andthe transition portion 51322 at the same time, it can avoid theseparator being pierced by the welding region as far as possible, andimprove the safety of the secondary battery. The abovementioned lengthsrefer to dimensions in the length direction X.

Further, a width of the second welding region 532 is larger than a widthof the first welding region 531, so as to increase an area at theconnecting position between the transition portion 51322 and theconductive structure 52, and in turn improve the safety of the secondarybattery; at the same time, it can increase the connecting strengthbetween the second portion 5132 and the conductive structure 52, andimprove the reliability of the secondary battery. The abovementionedwidths refer to dimensions in the length direction X.

Further, a height of the second welding region 532 is 0.5 mm-2.5 mm,that is, a dimension of the second welding region 532 in theabovementioned height direction Z is 0.5 mm-2.5 mm; for example, theheight of the second welding region 532 is 0.5 mm, 0.8 mm, 1.0 mm, 1.5mm, 2.0 mm, 2.2 mm or 2.5 mm. By configuring the height of the secondwelding region 532 in the abovementioned range, it can better preventthe short circuit caused by the separator pierced by the welding region,and improve the safety of the secondary battery.

If a height of the first welding region 531 is too long, it will lead tothe electrode tab of the electrode member having a longer length,thereby increasing a probability that the electrode tab inserts into theelectrode assembly 5. In an embodiment, the height of the first weldingregion 531 is smaller than 3 mm, that is, a dimension of the firstwelding region 531 in the abovementioned height direction Z is smallerthan 3 mm; for example, the height of the first welding region 531 is2.9 mm, 2.6 mm, 2.3 mm, 2 mm, 1.5 mm or the like. After configuring likethis, in the assembling process of the secondary battery, it candecrease the redundancy of the first welding region 531, reduce theprobability that the redundant part inserts into the electrode assembly5, and in turn further improve the safety of the secondary battery.

When the second portion 5132 is welded to the conductive structure 52,the generated vibration amplitude is larger; if the distance between thewelding region 53 and the first portion 5131 is too small, even thewelding region 53 and the first portion 5131 are directly connected, theactive material 511 on the first portion 5131 may fall off due to thevibration. In order to solve the problem, a gap is kept between thewelding region 53 and the first portion 5131 in the present disclosure,so as to avoid the conductive structure 52 and the active material 511on the first portion 5131 falling off due to the vibration, and in turnimprove the reliability of the electrode assembly 5.

In addition, the electrode member further comprises an insulating layer54, the insulating layer 54 is provided in the abovementioned gap. Asshown in FIG. 3, the insulating layer 54 can be provided at an outerside of the conducting layer 513 by coating or plating process, so as toenlarge a hardness of the connecting position between the transitionportion 51322 and the first portion 5131, increase the connectingposition's resistance to bend, thereby improving the reliability of thesecondary battery.

Further, in each abovementioned embodiment, both of two ends of thewelding region 53 in the length direction X extend to edges of thesecond portion 5132. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 5, in a projectionalong the abovementioned thickness direction Y, a part of the conductivestructure 52 overlapped with the second portion 5132 and a part of thesecond portion 5132 overlapped with the conductive structure 52 have thesame profile, so as to configure the overall electrode assembly 5conveniently and improve the overall energy density of the secondarybattery. Understandably, the conductive structure 52 extends to a sideof the welding region 53 away from the first portion 5131, as shown inFIG. 3, the conductive structure 52 extends beyond the second portion5132 at a side away from the first portion 5131, a part of theconductive structure 52 beyond the second portion 5132 is defined as anextending portion, each electrode member is connected via the extendingportion; obviously, this way can make the area of the welding region 53increase as far as possible, and maximize the area of the welding region53 on the premise that a height of the welding region 53 is constant;this way has a simple structure and can be connected conveniently. Insome embodiments, the extending portion is a rectangle structure, atriangular structure or a trapezoidal structure; in order toconveniently connect the conductive structure 52 with the electrodeterminal or the current collector, the part of the conductive structure52 beyond the second portion 5132 is a rectangle structure.

When both sides of the insulating substrate 512 are provided with theconducting layers 513, each conducting layer 513 is connected with theconductive structure 52 in some embodiments; two conductive structures52 of one electrode member can be connected via the abovementionedextending portions. When the electrode assembly 5 is connected to theelectrode terminal, the electrode assembly 5 can be connected with theelectrode terminal via the extending portion.

Furthermore, the embodiments of the present disclosure further providean apparatus, which includes a secondary battery according to any one ofthe embodiments as described above, wherein the secondary battery isadapted to provide power for the apparatus. The apparatus may be anelectric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, an electric scooter, an electriccart or any other suitable devices which can include the battery pack astheir own power source.

The above descriptions are merely exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure, but are not intended to limit the present disclosure. For aperson skilled in the art, the present application may have a variety ofmodifications and changes. Any modification, equivalent replacement, andimprovement made without departing from the spirit and principle of thepresent disclosure shall fall within the protection scope of the presentdisclosure

What is claimed is:
 1. An electrode member, comprising an electrode bodyand a conductive structure; the electrode body being a laminatedstructure and comprising an insulating substrate and two conductinglayers provided on two opposite surfaces of the insulating substrate;each conducting layer comprising a first portion and a second portionextending from the first portion, the first portion being coated with anactive material, and the second portion being not coated with the activematerial; the second portion comprising a main portion and a transitionportion, the transition portion being provided between the main portionand the first portion, and a width of the transition portion beinglarger than a width of the main portion; and the conductive structurebeing welded with the second portion and extending along a directionaway from the first portion, and at least a part of a welding regionformed by the second portion and the conductive structure beingpositioned at the transition portion.
 2. The electrode member accordingto claim 1, wherein the welding region comprises a first welding regionand a second welding region, the first welding region is positioned atthe main portion, the second welding region is positioned at thetransition portion; and a width of the second welding region is largerthan a width of the first welding region.
 3. The electrode memberaccording to claim 2, wherein both of two ends of the welding region ina width direction of the second portion extend to edges of the secondportion.
 4. The electrode member according to claim 2, wherein adimension of the first welding region is smaller than 3 mm, and a heightof the second welding region is 0.5 mm-2.5 mm.
 5. The electrode memberaccording to claim 1, wherein the second portion is a stepped structure,the main portion is provided to a small end of the stepped structure,and the transition portion is provided to a large end of the steppedstructure.
 6. The electrode member according to claim 5, wherein atleast at one side of the second portion in a width direction of thesecond portion, the transition portion and the main portion is connectedvia a rounded corner.
 7. The electrode member according to claim 1,wherein a gap is kept between the welding region and the first portion.8. The electrode member according to claim 7, wherein the electrodemember further comprises an insulating layer, the insulating layer isprovided in the gap.
 9. The electrode member according to claim 1,wherein the conductive structure extends beyond the second portion at aside away from the first portion.
 10. An electrode assembly, comprisinga first electrode member, a second electrode member and a separatorwhich are stacked, the separator being provided between the firstelectrode member and the second electrode member; the first electrodemember comprising an electrode body and a conductive structure; theelectrode body being a laminated structure and comprising an insulatingsubstrate and two conducting layers provided on two opposite surfaces ofthe insulating substrate; each conducting layer comprising a firstportion and a second portion extending from the first portion, the firstportion being coated with an active material, and the second portionbeing not coated with the active material; the second portion comprisinga main portion and a transition portion, the transition portion beingprovided between the main portion and the first portion, and a width ofthe transition portion being larger than a width of the main portion;and the conductive structure being welded with the second portion andextending along a direction away from the first portion, and at least apart of a welding region formed by the second portion and the conductivestructure being positioned at the transition portion.
 11. The electrodeassembly according to claim 10, wherein the electrode assembly is formedby laminating or winding the first electrode member, the secondelectrode member and separator.
 12. The electrode assembly according toclaim 10, wherein the first electrode member is provided with aplurality of the second portions and a plurality of the conductivestructures, each second portion is connected with the conductivestructure; the second portions and the conductive structures of thefirst electrode member are stacked and form a first electrode tab. 13.The electrode assembly according to claim 10, wherein the welding regioncomprises a first welding region and a second welding region, the firstwelding region is positioned at the main portion, the second weldingregion is positioned at the transition portion; a width of the secondwelding region is larger than a width of the first welding region. 14.The electrode assembly according to claim 10, wherein the second portionis a stepped structure, the main portion is provided to a small end ofthe stepped structure, and the transition portion is provided to a largeend of the stepped structure.
 15. The electrode assembly according toclaim 10, wherein the conductive structure extends beyond the secondportion at a side away from the first portion.
 16. A secondary battery,comprising a case, a cap plate, a first electrode terminal, a secondelectrode terminal and an electrode assembly; the cap plate covering thecase; the first electrode terminal and the second electrode terminalbeing provided to the cap plate; the electrode assembly being providedin the case; the electrode assembly comprising a first electrode member,a second electrode member and a separator which are stacked, theseparator being provided between the first electrode member and thesecond electrode member; the first electrode member being connected withthe first electrode terminal, and the second electrode member beingconnected with the second electrode terminal; the first electrode membercomprising an electrode body and a conductive structure; the electrodebody being a laminated structure and comprising an insulating substrateand two conducting layers provided on two opposite surfaces of theinsulating substrate; each conducting layer comprising a first portionand a second portion extending from the first portion, the first portionbeing coated with an active material, and the second portion being notcoated with the active material; the second portion comprising a mainportion and a transition portion, the transition portion being providedbetween the main portion and the first portion, and a width of thetransition portion being larger than a width of the main portion; andthe conductive structure being welded with the second portion andextending along a direction away from the first portion, and at least apart of a welding region formed by the second portion and the conductivestructure being positioned at the transition portion.
 17. The secondarybattery according to claim 16, wherein the first electrode member isprovided with a plurality of the second portions and a plurality of theconductive structures, each second portion is connected with theconductive structure; the second portions and the conductive structuresof the first electrode member are stacked and form a first electrodetab; and the first electrode tab is connected with the first electrodeterminal.
 18. The secondary battery according to claim 16, wherein thesecondary battery further comprises a current collecting member, thecurrent collecting member connects the conductive structure and thefirst electrode terminal.
 19. The secondary battery according to claim16, wherein the welding region comprises a first welding region and asecond welding region, the first welding region is positioned at themain portion, the second welding region is positioned at the transitionportion; a width of the second welding region is larger than a width ofthe first welding region.
 20. An apparatus, comprising a secondarybattery according to claim 16, wherein the secondary battery is adaptedto provide power for the apparatus.